Separate Lives
by Suki-Itami
Summary: When Stan was banished from South Park for not wanting to vote in elementary, he somehow managed to avoid PETA, and ended up in Denver, where he was raised by a young, college-bound woman. But ever since he left, things in South Park have gone to hell...
1. Lowe's

_The horse stopped and collapsed, sending the nine-year-old tumbling to the ground. A moment later, a woman ran over to him and untied him and removed the blindfold from around his eyes. She looked at his torn clothes and asked him what had happened._

"_Um," the boy thought about it before just deciding to say, "well, I chose not to vote in my school elections because it was between a giant douche and a turd sandwich."_

"_Huh?" She raised her eyebrow in confusion. Really? "A giant douche…and a…turd sandwich?"_

"_Yeah. We were voting on a new school mascot, and I didn't want to vote, so I got banished for it."_

"_You got banished…for not wanting to vote between two retarded mascot choices?"_

"_Yep."_

_She sighed and shook her head. "Where're you from?"_

"_South Park."_

"_Oh dear god." She rolled her eyes. "Well, you can stay with me. I'm a college student, so I'm rarely at the apartment, but I'll be glad to raise you." She smiled at him. "Besides, I think having a little brother around would be fun."_

_He smiled and nodded. "Okay."_

…

"Marsh!" A black-haired teenager jumped and focused back in on reality. He was leaning against a gray counter, and was wearing a dark blue t-shirt under a dark red nylon vest and dark blue skinny jeans. On his direct left was a cash register, and to his right was the automatic sliding door exit under a large sign that said, _"Thank You for Shopping at Lowe's_._"_

Stan sighed and straightened back up into his a full stand. "Yes?"

"You were slacking off again," his boss, a cranky elderly man the cashiers all called The Battleaxe, scolded. "Do it one more time and I'll have to write you up!"

"Yes sir, Mr. Mendoza," Stan replied as enthusiastically as his acting ability would allow him.

Mendoza turned and walked down to the Lumber department to check on the other employees.

Stan sighed and rolled his eyes as he turned back to make sure no one was coming to check out at his station. He'd been remembering when he first came to live in Denver almost nine years ago. The woman who found him and has been all but raising him was named Christine Riley. She graduated from college five years ago and has been working in a Denver middle school ever since, though both she and Stan still lived in the same apartment from when he was in elementary school. They both wanted to move into a house, but with her as a teacher and him working part-time at Lowe's, it wasn't going to happen anytime soon, especially with his graduation fast approaching.

"Is this all you need?" He asked as a man came to check out at his cash register.

"Yes it is," he said with a small smile. He paid for the nails he bought and left quickly.

Stan looked at the clock and smiled. His shift was over in five minutes, and Mendoza was strict when it came to employees getting overtime. He always let everyone clock out three minutes early just to make sure no one got overtime.

"Hey," a pissed off sounding man said to Stan, "I'm ready to check out."

He sighed quietly and looked at the two men on the other side of the counter with a small smile. "Sorry about…that?" He looked at the man with the green hat, red-orange jacket, and loose blue jeans. Small tufts of red hair were sticking out of the bottom of the hat. "Kyle?"

He looked at Stan with a confused look. "What?"

"Are you Kyle Broflosky?"

"…Yeah…?" Kyle took a step back, behind the brown haired boy wearing a dark brown coat and baggy blue jeans.

"You know this asshole, babe?" The man asked as he narrowed his eyes.

Stan's eyes went wide at those words, especially when he realized who the other man was. "Clyde?"

"Do we know you?"

Before they could run out, leaving the lamp, nails, and piece of plywood behind, Stan scanned them. "My name is Stan Marsh," realization crossed both their faces, "and Kyle, you were my best friend in elementary school."

"Stan?" Kyle leaped right up to the counter. "Is it really you?"

"Yeah dude."

"Wow," Clyde said with an impressed tone to his voice. "What've you been doing all these years?"

"Well, lucky for me, those PETA members never found me on that horse. Instead, a woman named Christine found me. She's been raising and supporting me all these years. She's actually a teacher at a middle school not far from here. I started working here a few months ago to help with the bills." Stan shrugged like it wasn't a big deal, though he was incredibly excited to see Kyle again.

"That's amazing Stan," Kyle said with a wide smile. "Hey, when does your shift end?"

"Actually," Stan looked at the clock, "Battleaxe Mendoza should be coming around to dismiss me any minute now." He smiled.

"Great!" Kyle looked over at Clyde. "Do we really have to go right back?"

Clyde shrugged. "No, and we could probably make up an excuse as to why we were late getting back. It didn't seem like Cartman and Kenny were in a rush to get things done."

"That's true…"

"Marsh," Mendoza said as he walked up, "get these two checked out and then get clocked out!"

"Sounds good to me boss." Stan hit a few buttons on the touch screen of the check out and told Clyde the total. As soon as he paid for it, Stan ran back to the break room and checked out. He threw his vest into a small locker and grabbed his dark brown jacket out of it, slipping into it as he ran back out of the break room to where he left Kyle and Clyde. "Let's go get dinner. Christine isn't expecting me home yet anyway."

"Okay." Kyle smiled. He grabbed Stan's wrist as Clyde grabbed his hand, lacing his fingers with the other boy's.

"Let's just walk over to Burger King," Stan said as the three boys walked out into the cold Colorado winter air, "it's cheap."

"So where does Christine think you are right now, Stan?" Kyle asked out of curiosity as the trio turned in the direction of the fast food restaurant.

"Over at my girlfriend, Marie's." Stan shrugged. "Doesn't matter anyway, I'll just get home before she starts worrying."

"Girlfriend, huh?" Clyde chuckled.

"What?"

"How long have you been dating her?"

"Four years."

"About as long as Cartman and Kenny," Kyle noted.

"Cartman and Kenny?" Stan stopped and stared at them with his mouth hanging open. "Really?"

Kyle stopped and nodded at his friend. "Yeah, it's definitely one of the more…strange things that's happened since you were banished."

"I'd say…" Stan continued walking, leading his friends into the Burger King. "Any other couples that I should know about?"

"Just Craig and Tweek," Kyle said, "but who didn't see that coming…?"

"Yeah, it's been obvious ever since middle school," Clyde said.

"Well I didn't see it coming!" Stan said.

"Oh yeah, that's right." Kyle chuckled. "Well, here's something you should've seen coming: Butters is gay too."

"**That** I did imagine happening." Stan ordered something off the value menu and waited for Clyde and Kyle. "Well, how's everyone been?" He asked when they were done ordering.

"Well, with the exception of Kenny, good," Kyle said with a slightly sad tone.

"Kenny? What's wrong with him?"

"Cartman treats him like shit," Clyde sighed. "I don't understand why he hasn't left him yet."

"It's actually really sad to watch," Kyle said.

"Damn." Stan grabbed his tray and sat it down on a nearby table so that he could still talk with Clyde and Kyle while they waited for their food. "It would be sad to watch."

Once they got their food, they sat down across from Stan and talked on much lighter subjects for the next hour. When they were done, Clyde and Kyle left to go back to South Park and Stan went back to the apartment he shared with Christine. He couldn't wait to tell her, even though he knew that she'd ring his ass for ditching Marie.


	2. Beautiful

Kyle sighed as he looked at the light brown door of the two bedroom apartment he shared with Clyde, Kenny, and Cartman. They rented it out two days ago to escape their overreacting parents and so far, it's been hell. Cartman and Kenny have been fighting constantly about how to decorate their room, and it's led to more than one fist fight that Kyle had to break up since Clyde would always be out getting something when the fights occurred. That was actually the main reason Kyle wanted to go to Denver with his fiancé, so he could avoid the inevitable fight between Cartman and Kenny.

He looked down at his hands and began to twist around the gold engagement band around his left ring finger that Clyde gave him a month ago. That was part of the reason he had to move out of his house; his mother, Sheila had a conniption when she saw the ring and very nearly just kicked him out. Until they actually rented the apartment out, Kyle was living with Clyde's family, who didn't seem to care all too much.

"Hey, babe," Clyde said as he grabbed Kyle's left hand from the driver's seat of his jet black Grand Am, "you okay?"

Kyle smiled as his fiancé. "Of course I am. What would make you think otherwise?"

"Well, the look on your face was one reason, but I figured that was because we both know that Kenny and Cartman are probably fighting in there. I meant, about seeing Stan. I know you two were really close when we were all in elementary school, and that you were devastated to see him go all those years ago, so it must've been…well, I don't know. For me, it was weird, but you seemed so happy to see him. I haven't seen you like that in so long."

Kyle chuckled humorlessly. "It's just been forever since I've seen him. My only thought was that I was looking at my best friend again…I could've hugged him."

Clyde smiled softly. "I noticed that." He kissed his fiancé on the forehead. "Come on, lets go inside before those two tear everything apart."

Kyle nodded. "Okay." He opened up the passenger's side door and hopped out of the car as he grabbed the box that held the gaudy stained glass lamp and the Lowe's bag next to it that had the box of nails. Clyde popped the trunk and grabbed the piece of plywood out of it before the two locked up the car and made their way into the apartment.

As they thought, Kenny - who still wore his red-orange parka and pants - and Cartman - who was wearing a white t-shirt and baggy blue jeans, his bright red down jacket was hanging on a coat hanger - were screaming at each other. Kenny, though, had a black eye that wasn't there before they left. Kyle sighed and set the lamp on the old gray couch that sat across from a small TV that didn't have cable at that point in time. He sat the nails next to it and walked over to his friends.

"Guys, stop fighting!" He yelled, effectively shutting them up.

"Why should I listen to you, you damn Jew?" Cartman demanded. It was obvious he was pissed off at something Kenny said, and it was looking like he wasn't going to simmer down for some time.

"I told you before," Clyde said defensively - he'd set the piece of plywood next to the now closed door, "if you keep ripping on Kyle, I'm kicking your fat ass out."

"I'm not fat, godammit!"

"If your mother says your fat, then you're fucking fat," Kenny argued.

"Shut the hell up, you fucking whore!"

"Both of you, stop it!" Kyle screamed, once again shutting them up. "I have something to tell you guys that will hopefully keep you quiet for the next few hours while we finish up the bookshelf." Kyle and Clyde were building a small bookshelf for all of Kyle's books, and with the constant interruptions from Kenny and Cartman, something that would normally take a few hours had turned into a two day project.

"What is it?" Kenny asked, completely turning away from Cartman so he couldn't see him.

"You guys remember Stan, right?"

"Of course." He nodded.

Cartman nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

"Well, he's been living in Denver ever since he was banished," Kyle said excitedly. "We found him working at the Lowe's, and even had dinner with him."

"Really?" Kenny smiled wide. He had been close friends with Stan and missed him dearly. He was really happy to hear that he was okay and living only about an hour away.

"Yeah. We should all go visit him tomorrow, it's Saturday after all," Kyle said hopefully.

"I like the idea," Kenny agreed with a nod.

Cartman, though, rolled his eyes. "I don't care if that fuckwad is alive, he was banished for being an asshole and not voting. I'm not going to go see him, and if I'm not, you can't either Kenny."

"Fuck you, dude." Kenny glared at his boyfriend. "I've missed Stan, so I'm going to go with Kyle to see him tomorrow."

"Bullshit you are." Cartman took a few heavy steps and slapped Kenny. "How do I know you won't try to fuck him? You're a whore after all."

Kenny ground his teeth and, instead of fighting back, ran out the door and down the street. Kyle told Clyde he was going to get Kenny and ran after him as Clyde began trying to "calm Cartman down."

Kyle knew exactly where Kenny was running to, the high school to meet up with Butters, who would still be there practicing his cello with a few other band geeks. He was there five minutes later, and ran inside of the band hall. He saw Kenny sitting against the wall, listening to Butters - who still wore his light blue jacket and dark green pants - play Apocalyptica's _"Beautiful" _with Token on the drums.

"Kenny," Kyle muttered as he sat next to his friend.

"Hey Kyle," Kenny muttered back, not taking his eyes off of Butters. Kyle could see the want in the other boy's eyes for the blonde, but knew that unless Kenny actually left Cartman, and therefore give Kyle and Clyde full permission to kick him into the streets, he'd never get to be with Butters. "He's getting better…much better."

"He is," Kyle agreed.

"They were finishing up _'Nothing Else Matters'_ when I walked in."

"Good song."

"Yeah…"

"Kenny," Kyle began to ask, "why are you still with Cartman? You don't love him, he treats you like you're the worst person to ever walk the Earth, and it's obvious that you want to be with Butters."

Kenny sighed. "I **am** with Butters."

"What?" Kyle's eyes widened and he took his eyes off of Butters to look at Kenny. "You're dating Butters? But…why are you still with Cartman then?"

"Why do you think we were fighting when you and Clyde got home?" Kenny shook his head as his eyes became forlorn. "I tried to break it off with him, but he refused to let it happen. He got angry and cold cocked me."

"Well, we're home now, so you can try again tonight. I'll tell Clyde what's going on, and he can steal Cartman's key–"

"I know that would be the best thing to do, but," he pulled his legs up to his chest and hugged them, "I'm scared. Not for myself, but for Butters."

Kyle nodded, understanding. Cartman had never liked Butters, even though he'd tricked the boy into believing he did more than once, and even went to extreme lengths to keep him away from Kenny. Freshman year, at the beginning of their relationship, Cartman actually paid the goth kids in the high school to rape Butters as a warning to stay away from Kenny. It was then that he began playing the cello, and when Kenny found out a year later, he tried to leave Cartman to protect Butters. That was when all of their relationship issues surfaced and Cartman became abusive.

"We could hire a hitman to kill him," he suggested. Kyle wasn't kidding, he honestly thought Cartman would be a better person dead and buried six-feet in the ground.

"Don't have the money," Kenny sighed, "otherwise I would've done that a long time ago."

"Yeah…"

"Hey Kenny," Butters said happily as he walked up to them with his cello, "hey Kyle."

"Hey Butters," they both said happily, making sure that their tone didn't tell Butters what they'd been talking about.

"What're you doing here?" Butters asked as he put his instrument away. "You never come here on Fridays." He then saw the black eye Kenny had. "Oh. You and Eric got into a fight, huh?"

Kenny gingerly touched the edge of his eye and nodded. "Yeah."

"Was it because you tried to leave him?" Kenny had told Butters he was going to leave Cartman so they could be together without worry two days ago, when the four first began renting out the apartment.

"…Yeah…"

"H-Hey there guys," Tweek said as he walked up with a flute in his hand. His head twitched a bit to the side, sending his spiky blonde hair swaying a bit, as he knelt down and began putting his flute away. His gray jacket was still buttoned wrong, as it was in elementary, and he wore dark blue skinny jeans now.

"Hey Tweek," they greeted.

"W-Was Craig's Mustang outside?"

Kenny thought for a moment and then shook his head. "I didn't see it, but he could've still been in football practice."

"Oh no!" Tweek began to freak out. "What if he forgets I'm here? I'll have to walk home, and then s-someone will–"

"Relax," a boy wearing an open blue jacket and hat over a green football jersey and blue skinny jeans said as he sat on his knees and wrapped an arm around Tweek's shoulders, "I'd never forget you."

"Hey Craig," Kyle said with a small wave.

"Yo," he simply responded. "Hey, where was Clyde today? I know the coach excused him for something, but we were weak without him."

"We had to run up to Denver for a few things."

"Okay." Craig stood up with Tweek and walked out into the parking lot with him.

"I-I'm ready to go whenever you guys are," Butters said as he bumped his fists together.

Kenny and Kyle stood up and walked with Butters outside. Neither of them had thought to grab a car, so they ended up walking the mile and a half to Butters' house in cold. Halfway there, snow started to fall, and it just kept getting heavier and heavier the closer they got to the house.

Butters let them inside and said they could stay until his parents got home, and then they could take them back to their apartment since it was snowing pretty hard.

As Butters and Kenny went into the kitchen to make some hot chocolate for the all of them, Kyle looked out of one of the living room windows at the snow. He couldn't help but wonder if Stan could see snow too.


	3. Questioning

Stan sighed as he slid his black Verizon cell phone shut and made his way for the front door of the apartment. He was dressed in a tight black t-shirt with a stark white skull and crossbones on the front and black skinny jeans, eyeliner was heavy around his eyes, nearly making him look like a raccoon. His nails were painted jet black and his black hair was unkempt. As he was walking out of the door, passing by where Christine - a tall woman with wavy blonde hair who was still in the black button up shirt and black slacks she wore to work - was sitting on the couch smoking a cigarette, he dug into his pocket and pulled out some black lipstick.

"Going to go meet up with Marie or your friends?" Christine asked as she turned from the TV, which was playing a rerun of 1,000 Ways to Die, to face him. She took in his appearance and nodded. "Okay, you're going to go see Marie."

He stopped and looked over at her with the lipstick still in his hand. "She's mad that I saw some friends that I haven't seen for years instead of going to hang out with her. I just…don't feel like Raven after seeing them, but I agreed to meet her."

"Well, don't forget your hobo gloves," she pointed out as she took a drag off of her cigarette.

Stan sighed and ran back to his room. He grabbed his black fingerless leather gloves and then walked back to the door. "I won't be out too late. Marie probably won't want to hang out very long if I'm not completely Raven by the time I get there."

"Alright. I'll stay up until midnight, but after that, just don't wake me up, okay?"

"Okay." With that, he walked out of the apartment and out to his rust red 1990 Ford Taurus. When he started the car up, he pulled the mirror down and applied his lipstick. It was the kind that would stay on until he washed it off, but he didn't really care. Marie had bought it for him against his will; he didn't think he needed it, but she insisted he did, so he wore it around her just to humor her.

He flipped his headlights on and pulled out of the parking lot of the apartments. It had only been three hours since Kyle and Clyde left to go back to South Park, and Stan couldn't get Kyle off of his mind. He thought it was because it had been so long since he'd seen his best friend, but he kept finding himself getting jealous over Kyle being with Clyde. Stan gripped the wheel so hard that his knuckles turned white. Why was Kyle with **him**? Clyde had always been a jerk, and Kyle never seemed like him even as a friend, so why…?

He sighed heavily as his attitude went from happy to have seen his friend, to a deep depression for reasons he couldn't figure out. As the depression that transformed him into his gothic Raven persona fell over him, he pulled into the driveway of Marie's parents' house. Her parents weren't home and wouldn't be for the next few days, they were in Florida on a business trip. It was the perfect opportunity for Marie and Raven to hook up.

As soon as he cut the power to the engine, the front door opened to a pale girl with long black hair wearing a lacey soft black dress. She leaned against the doorframe with her gloves arms crossed over her c-cup chest. Raven skulked up to her with his hands shoved in his pockets.

He glanced up from where he was staring at the ground to take in his girlfriend's face, done up with heavy black eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick. He could smell the smoke from her menthol cigarettes and knew that he was going to bum one off of her as soon as they were inside.

Before Marie let him in though, she asked him, "What gave you the idea to completely ditch on me?"

He shrugged. "What's it to you? Now, move aside," he pushed past her and walked down the hall to her room with her following, "I need a smoke."

"Ass," she muttered as she plopped down in the black beanbag seat next to her bed covered with a _Nightmare Before Christmas_ comforter set.

Raven grabbed her Pall Mall menthols and lit one up as he laid down on Marie's bed. He stared up at the ceiling, black that was tinted purple from the black light she used. Marie crawled up onto the bed next to him and reached for the button of his pants as his cell phone vibrated in his front pocket.

"That better not have been your cell phone," she said threateningly.

"It wasn't my cock, if that's what you were hoping for," Raven said as he reached into his pocket for his phone. He slid his cell phone up and saw that he had a text from someone the wasn't registered in his phone. He clicked "read" so that he could find out if it was something from Facebook or Twitter.

_Hey Stan, it's Kyle. I pulled your number off of your phone when you went to the bathroom and left it on the table. Anyway, what's up?_

Stan smiled wide and snapped into a sitting position. He handed Marie the cigarette Raven had been smoking and quickly typed a response.

_Hey Kyle. I'm just hanging out with Marie. What about you?_

"What the hell are you doing?" Marie demanded as he hit "send."

"I'm texting Kyle back," he said with a shrug.

She took a long drag off of the cigarette and then pointed at the door. "Just go. You're not Raven tonight, so I don't want you here."

"Okay, fine with me." Stan hopped off the bed and began walking for the door. He knew she wasn't going to follow him out, she never did that, even when we was Raven the entire time.

He hit the button to read what Kyle had sent him as he climbed into his car and wiped the lipstick off.

_Nothing, just hanging out with Butters and Kenny. Dude, you'll never believe this, but Kenny has been seeing Butters on the side! He doesn't want to be with Cartman, but he hasn't left him to protect Butters from his wrath. Oh, by the way, if you get a text from Clyde asking where I am, tell him I got stuck at Butters' house since it's snowing pretty heavy here. His cell phone sucks and doesn't get good service out by the apartment._

Stan chuckled. Kenny loves Butters now, and so the plot of the life he could've had thickens.

_Wow, I would've never guessed that. Butters just never seemed like Kenny's type, you know…? And, okay, I'll tell Clyde if he asks. Hey, just how long have you two been seeing each other anyway?_

He pulled out of the driveway as he hit the "send" button and suddenly regretted asking. Stan knew that if Kyle and Clyde had been in a long-standing relationship then his jealousy would've been pointless. After a certain point, two people just realize they love each other - he of course didn't really know how that felt seeing as Marie and Raven's relationship was strictly physical - and know that they always want to be together. He could only hope that their relationship hadn't hit that point yet.

His cell phone buzzed as he was driving, but he was too afraid to look at it, so he waited a few minutes, when he pulled into his parking space in front of the apartment, before grabbed his phone and looked at Kyle's answer.

_Nearly five years now. Actually, he proposed to me last month and I accepted. We're going to be married this upcoming July, a month after we graduate. Isn't that great? __J_

Stan felt his heart sink in his chest, though he couldn't figure out why. He knew that some part of him hated that Kyle and Clyde were dating, but now that he knew they were engaged, he hated it even more. He suddenly felt the need to get Kyle alone and just…

"Whoa!" Stan shook his head and slapped himself, bringing him back from his thoughts. "I'm not gay, what am I thinking? I should be happy for them." With that in mind he text back:

_Yeah, that is great! J July, huh? Better than this time of year, I guess, especially with the snow. Lol. If you want any help with planning, I'll be glad to help you._

He hit "send" and climbed out of his car. He calmly walked back into the apartment, finding Christine still sitting on the couch watching 1,000 Ways to Die. He hadn't been gone long, maybe twenty minutes.

"You were gone long," she said sarcastically, not taking her eyes off of the screen.

"Yeah," he said as he walked into the bathroom and washed the make up off, and changed into a baggy white t-shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants. "Marie didn't want me around since I wasn't Raven." He plopped down on the couch next to Christine.

"I see." She looked over at him as he got back up and grabbed his buzzing phone off of the end table next to the door. "Who're you texting? Travis?" Travis was an old friend of Stan's that moved out to California a year ago, he occasionally text Stan if he got bored.

"No, it's Kyle." He hit the "read" button.

_Really? Man, that'd be great, I need help desperately! Kenny offered, but every time he tries to help, Cartman buts in. Wendy also offered to help…but I really don't want her help, she's kind of a bitch now. I'm planning on going up there tomorrow anyway, and if Cartman asks, Kenny and Butters are too, so we can talk about it then. Oh yeah, sorry about just surprising you by saying I'll be there tomorrow, but I'll be there around noon._

Stan smiled and text back that that was fine, and they'd have fun before he said that he was going to go to sleep. He hit "send" and waited for Kyle's response as he watched more of 1,000 Ways to Die with Christine.

"Kyle, huh?" She chuckled.

"What?" He looked over at her, knowing she was going to accuse him of something, but not entirely sure what this time.

"Should I not be here?" She winked innocently. "Maybe give you two some 'quality time?'"

"No!" He turned bright red. "What would make you think that?"

She laughed. "You're so easy to irritate! Just like when you were a kid!"

"That's not funny," he said through ground teeth. He hated it when Christine irritated him, she always did so in a way that turned out being truth. She teased him about Marie, and they were…well, they were having sex, she even teased him about his friend Travis, and he had gay thoughts about him up until he moved. Everything she teased him about usually came true in some way.

He stood up and grabbed his phone as he made his way to his room. "I'm going to sleep."

"Goodnight," she said as she turned her attention back to the TV.

Stan shut his door and, without even bothering to turn on the light, plopped down on his twin-sized bed. He was asleep within minutes.


	4. A Reason for a Breaking Heart

Kyle pulled up into the parking lot of the Lowe's in Clyde's Grand Am. He was supposed to meet Stan here so that he could follow him to the apartment he shared with Christine. He had walked home from Butters' earlier that morning, luckily Cartman had to work, so Kyle was able to go into the apartment and tell Clyde what was going on without having to worry about Cartman overhearing it.

He grabbed _The Sorceress: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel_ from where it had been sitting in the passenger's seat. He'd grabbed it before he left because he figured he might have to wait - he always arrived about twenty minutes before he was supposed to have, and he couldn't help it. Fortunately, just as he opened the book where he left off, a rust red Ford Taurus pulled up next to him and blew its horn.

Kyle jumped and looked over at a laughing Stan, who was wearing his normal jacket over a blue shirt that said, "Wanna know how to entertain a moron? (look on back of shirt)," and blue jeans. He opened his door and knocked on Kyle's window to get him to roll it down.

Stan got a good look of the inside of the car and whistled. "Nice car dude."

"It's Clyde's," Kyle said quickly. "He didn't have to work today, so he let me borrow it."

"Lucky you." Stan smiled. "So why didn't he come anyway?"

"He wanted to relax today, plus he has football practice at five."

"How's he gonna get there?"

"Craig's taking him."

"I see." He lightly tapped the inside of the door with his finger. "Well, if you'll follow me, I'll lead you to the apartment. Christine left to go hang out with her sister about an hour ago, so no one else will be home."

"Awesome!" Kyle smiled.

Stan plopped back into the driver's seat of his Taurus whipped it around to exit the parking lot. Kyle followed him closely, making sure that he didn't lose his friend on the main drag through the suburbs. He was extremely excited to be hanging out with his best friend again, it would be just like old times again. Well, except that they'd be planning a wedding instead of watching Terrance & Phillip, or playing Guitar Hero. He chuckled at the memories.

They pulled into the parking lot of the apartments a few minutes later, and he parked in a guest spot before cutting the engine and jumping out of the car. He bounded over to where Stan was waiting for him next to the front of the Taurus. Kyle walked over to his friend and followed him inside of the apartment.

He looked around the apartment as they walked inside and nodded. "This place looks great. I wish that we could get our apartment to look like this."

Stan chuckled. "It takes a while to get it looking like this. I moved in shortly after Christine began renting out the place, and it took nearly a year to get it fully furnished." He looked back at his friend and held out his hand. "Your coat?" He had the door to the coat closet open and had already hung his jacket up.

"Oh yeah." Kyle slipped out of his jacket, showing the tight fitting white t-shirt underneath, and handed it to Stan. "Here ya go."

"Well," Stan said as he hung up the jacket without taking his eyes off Kyle, "what do you wanna do?"

"You're going to help me plan my wedding," Kyle chuckled, "remember?"

"Oh yeah," he looked away with a light blush, "that's right?" Why was he staring? Stan couldn't figure out why his eyes became fixated on his best friend's well honed and hard, yet lean chest. _Stop noticing, dammit!_

"Something wrong, Stan?" Kyle asked when he saw his friend's face turn red. He rested the back of his hand on his forehead as took his hat off, allowing his red hair to fall in short ringlets around his face. "I don't think you have a fever."

Stan turned an even brighter shade of red as the scent of Kyle's Axe deodorant spray wafted underneath his nose. "I-I'm fine." He pushed him back gently, feeling the small amount of chest muscles underneath his fingers. "Um, I, uh, gotta go to the bathroom real quick!" He ran into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

Kyle blinked in confusion as he set his hat on the back of the couch. He leaped over the couch and flipped the TV on. The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy was playing, so he just relaxed and watched it as he waited for Stan to get out of the bathroom.

A minute later, he heard the sink running for a moment and then Stan walked out of the bathroom wiping his face off with a hand towel. The sudden unintentional assault of Kyle's looks, scent, and touch had sent Stan into a frenzy. He didn't know why, and he honestly didn't want to think about it, he just knew that if he got that close to Kyle again, he might not be able to control his urges like he had a moment ago.

"You okay, dude?" Kyle asked concernedly as he looked over at his friend.

"Yeah…Yeah, I'm fine." Stan sat down the couch next to Kyle and took a calming breath. "So, tell me, why did you agree to marry Clyde?"

Kyle looked at Stan like he had asked the stupidest question. "I love him."

"Well, what I meant was that, you said you guys dated for five years, so you probably haven't dated anyone else. Unless you guys have been on and off that is."

"Well, I dated Craig for about a month in eighth grade." He shrugged. "But he just isn't my type, so we went our separate ways. But, no, after I started dating Clyde, we weren't on and off. I haven't dated anyone else."

"Then how can you be sure he's who you want to marry?" Stan asked with a tone of hope to his voice. He wasn't sure why that tone was there, but he couldn't get to go away.

Kyle crossed his legs and face Stan. He rested his head in his hands and his elbows on his legs. "Look, let's shift the focus from my life to yours. What've **you **been up to?"

Stan turned his head, not switching his position from his relaxed state of leaning against the back of the couch with his legs stretched out in front of him and spread eagle with one on top of the coffee table and the other on the floor. "Well, nothing much, I guess." He noticed that Kyle's face was tilted down and he was staring at him with puppy dog eyes. "I…" He cleared his throat. "I'm the star quarterback of my high school's varsity team."

Kyle chuckled. "I should've known you'd still be a jock. Anything else?"

"Well, uh," the look he was getting from Kyle was too much, "screw it!"

"Huh? Wha?" Kyle yelped as Stan grabbed his wrists and forced him onto his back on the couch. Stan's legs rested in between Kyle's, keeping his legs spread with one hanging off of the couch. "S-Stan?"

He leaned down close to his friend's face. "Kyle…I…"

Kyle smirked. "I see what you want."

"You do?" Stan's face turned light red.

"Yep." Kyle wrapped his legs around Stan's waist. "You wanna wrestle!" He used the power in his legs to throw Stan to the ground between the coffee table and the couch. He laughed loudly as they fell to the ground; he was straddling Stan's waist, and Stan still had a hold on his wrists. "I win," he laughed.

Stan groaned but couldn't help back crack a smile. He used his hold that he still had on Kyle's wrists to try and push him back without success, though he wasn't really trying. After just a few moments, he let his muscles relax in surrender. "Fine, you win."

"That was no fun," Kyle pouted as his slipped his wrists out of Stan's hands. He rested his hands on his hips and pushed his bottom lip out in a pout. "For a star quarterback, you're not very tough."

Stan narrowed his eyes and jumped up, pinning Kyle to the ground on his back and quickly moving his legs to straddle his waist. "Still think I'm not tough?" He asked with a smirk.

Kyle struggled to free himself from his best friend's grip but couldn't. After only a moment, he gave up and sighed. "Fine, you win. Will you let me up now?"

"In a minute," Stan muttered as he leaned down close to his friend's face.

Kyle's face turned bright red. "What're you doing?"

"Just seeing something…" Stan mashed his lips into Kyle's, who just relaxed and slipped his eyes closed as he kissed him back in reply.

Stan moved his hands from where they were pinning down Kyle's wrists and tangled one in the redhead's hair as the other braced itself against the floor, holding Stan up. Kyle wrapped his arms around Stan's waist, forcing their hips together and intensifying the kiss. It only lasted a few moments, and when their lips finally separated they just looked at each other with nothing short of love flooding their eyes.

"Stan," Kyle said with a lump in his throat, "don't do this to me. Please, just…help me plan…my–my wedding…my marriage to Clyde."

Stan pulled Kyle to his chest in a tight embrace. "Please don't marry him…please."


	5. My Love for You

The sun was setting and Christine still wasn't home. She really was giving them alone time. Stan sighed quietly, knowing that she had been right after all. There was no way he'd tell her she was right once again, she'd just have to wait and see for herself.

Kyle was lying on Stan's chest with his eyes half-closed. He was staring at the engagement ring around his left ring finger. It'd felt heavy ever since they'd kissed a few hours ago, and he was just waiting for the weight to go away again. But with Stan's arms wrapped loosely around his waist, he knew it wasn't going to go away any time soon. He was beginning to question whether his decision to marry Clyde was the right one, especially after that jolt of electricity shot through him when his lips touched Stan's.

Stan looked down at Kyle and kissed the top of his head chastely. "You still awake?"

"…Yeah, I am," Kyle muttered. He looked up at Stan and gave him a small, sad smile.

Stan rested one hand on the back of his friend's head and brought his lips down to meet Kyle's in a brief, gentle kiss. "I love this," he whispered, "this contact with you."

Tears threatened to surface in Kyle's eyes, but he fought to keep them down. "I love this too, Stan. God, you don't know how **much** I love this. …But…"

Concern passed over Stan's face as he sat up, bringing Kyle up to sitting on his knees. "What's wrong?"

"Stan," he rested his left hand on Stan's chest to see if he could feel the weight of the ring, "I'm engaged to Clyde. As much as I would love to just stay with you in this moment, right now, I can't. We shouldn't have even kissed, it was wrong for me to do that to Clyde."

"But, Kyle, you don't have to worry about him finding out, if that's what's bothering you."

"It's not that…" he bit his bottom lip. "I just…I feel awful for doing that to him."

"Why?" Stan cupped Kyle's cheek in his hand ever so gently.

Kyle rested his hand on top of Stan's. "I just…I don't want to do this to him without giving him more of a chance. Besides that, I want to make sure that this isn't just some, well, fling. I just want to make sure that I no longer love him before I cut off all ties and…"

"Kyle…" Stan brushed his lips across Kyle's slowly, sending a jolt of electricity through both of them. "Do you really think this is a fling?" He whispered closely to the other boy's ear.

Kyle turned bright red. "I hope not," he whispered in return.

Stan stood up and grabbed onto his best friend's wrists, slowly pulling him towards his room. "We can make sure of it." He pulled Kyle into him as he stepped into the doorway of his room and connected their lips.

He wrapped his arms around Kyle's shoulders as he wrapped his arms around Stan's waist. Some part of Kyle was fighting the urges welling up inside of him to just go with it, but the part of him that wanted to fight it wasn't strong enough to overwhelm the urge. He wrapped one leg around Stan's waist as he was pushed against a wall just inside of the bedroom door.

Stan grabbed the edge of the door and slammed it shut before he lifted Kyle so that he could wrap his other leg around his waist too. Kyle lifted his arms and wrapped them around Stan's neck as the black-haired boy snaked his tongue into the redhead's mouth. Kyle moaned loudly as their lips parted for a brief second.

A moment later, they were both lying on the bed with Stan on top of Kyle, tearing off each others' clothes. Without either of them noticing, Kyle's engagement ring fell off and rolled away on the hardwood floor to the opposite side of the room.

…

Christine poured herself a cup of coffee and looked at the black digital clock she had on the kitchen bar separating the kitchen from the living room - her and Stan used it as the kitchen table - it was nearly ten, time for Stan and Kyle to wake up. She hadn't gotten the chance to meet Kyle last night, but she knew he was there from seeing his jacket in the coat closet last night.

She walked over to Stan's bedroom door with her coffee still in her hand. She knocked on the door. "Hey, Stan, Kyle, get up!" She waited a moment and then opened the door when she didn't hear anyone moving around. "I said–Holy crap!"

Stan and Kyle were a naked mess of tangled limbs on top of the twin sized bed. Their arms were wrapped around each others' shoulders, while their legs were tangled around each other, and both of them had hair that was going in every direction - sex hair.

"I never thought I'd be right about this one," Christine muttered in shock. She grabbed one of Stan's stuffed animals - Winnie the Pooh - and threw it at them, effectively waking them up. "Get up you two."

Stan slowly opened his eyes and looked sleepily at Christine. His face turned red when he realized that she had caught him after a night of long, heavy sex. "Okay, we're up," he squeaked out.

She chuckled and left the room, shutting the door behind her.

He sat up slightly and reached around Kyle to flip the switch for his desk lamp, dimly lighting the area around them. He plopped back into his laying position next to his now lover and smiled as the redhead's eyes opened. "Good morning."

"Morning?" Kyle asked in a mumble. "What time is it?"

"Um," Stan turned and looked at his cell phone, "ten."

"Wait a second," Kyle pulled himself out of Stan's arms and legs, scrambling around for his clothes, "I need to go! Ah, godammit!"

Stan sat up and looked over at his friend confusingly. "What's wrong?"

"Clyde expected me home around midnight last night!" Kyle yelled as he pulled his boxers and pants up at the same time as he was attempting to pull his t-shirt on. "Fuck!"

Normally, Stan would've made a comment on that, but he saw how frantic Kyle was and knew it would be in bad taste. Instead, he got up and walked over to him. "Just calm down."

"Calm down? Stan, Clyde gets jealous easily! Dammit, where's my phone?" Kyle put his shirt the rest of the way on and zipped his pants up. He patted his pockets down as he looked for his cell phone, and that's when he noticed his engagement ring wasn't on his finger. "Oh shit! Where's my ring?"

Stan looked around the floor and quickly found the gold band. He scooped it up from the floor and faced Kyle. "Found it."

"Thank God!" He ran over to Stan, who balled his hand into a fist to grip onto the ring. "What're you doing?"

"Before I give this back to you, I want you to promise me something."

"Stan, seriously, I need to get going! Give me my ring back!"

"Not before you promise me that you'll give last night some serious thought."

Kyle looked at him like he was crazy. "You think that I'll be thinking about anything else? I mean, especially when I face Clyde, I won't be thinking of anything but what happened last night! Stan, even though I really did love what happened between us, I just feel so…so guilty. I can't believe I cheated on Clyde." Tears flooded his eyes. "Please, I have to go."

Stan opened his hand and stared at the gold ring sitting in his palm. "Kyle, please," he held his hand out for Kyle to take the ring, "just think about leaving him. I don't think if you really wanted to marry him that badly, you would've–"

"I know!" He snatched the ring out of Stan's hand and slipped it onto his finger. "I have to go!"

Stan followed him out of the room after he pulled on his boxers and watched as he grabbed his jacket, where his phone was. As Kyle ran out of the front door with his cell phone pressed to his ear, Stan leaned against the doorframe of his bedroom and mumbled, "I love you."


	6. Guilt and Shame

Kyle walked into the apartment with Kenny around one-thirty that afternoon. Cartman was at work again, luckily, but Clyde was sitting at the kitchen table glaring at them as they walked through the door. Kenny went back into him and Cartman's room in order to avoid the fight that was coming - Kyle and Clyde rarely fought, but when they did, it was normally very intense, nearly as bad as when him and Cartman fought.

"What took you so long?" Clyde demanded.

Kyle hesitantly said, "Like I told you on the phone, I fell asleep at Stan's planning the wedding. I didn't mean to, it just happened."

Clyde's eyes narrowed. "It just happened…?" He stood up and walked over to Kyle, the moment he got near, he could smell Stan's Tag body spray coming strong off of his body. "Why don't I smell Axe?"

"I wasn't prepared to stay over there, so I didn't have my deodorant with me. I borrowed Stan's Tag before I left," Kyle smoothly lied.

"You're lying," Clyde accused. "I can see it in your eyes."

"What can you see?" Kyle challenged. He really hoped he didn't see the truth; the guilt and shame present in his mind as the night before, when him and Stan made love, ran past his mind's eye.

"…Guilt," Clyde said slowly. "Though for what, I don't know. Why don't you tell me what you and Stan really did last night…?"

"There's nothing to tell," Kyle said defensively. "Why can't you believe that I just fell asleep over there?"

"I'll believe you," Clyde grabbed Kyle's wrists and threw him against the wall, pinning him there, "on one condition."

Kyle took a sharp breath, knowing what was coming and not liking it. They had agreed that for the last six months before their wedding, they wouldn't have sex so that it'd be that much more fun when it came. There was no loophole in the agreement, but they'd both been a little tense ever since the beginning of February - they thought they'd gotten all of their urges out in January, though that was clearly a mistake - and they wanted to have sex so bad. It wasn't like Clyde to accuse Kyle of cheating on him, but with Kyle being somewhat less tense after he came home ten hours late, it made sense in his mind that something happened.

"Clyde, we agreed that we wouldn't have sex again until we got married," Kyle pointed out with narrowed eyes.

Clyde pressed their bodies together; the heat of lust was pouring off of him. "Fuck the agreement. If you really love me, you'll say the same."

"No Clyde." Kyle forced his wrists out of Clyde's grip and pushed him back. "I don't want to have sex right now, okay…? I just want to take a shower and get some clean clothes on."

"What's the point?" Clyde caught his cute little Jewish boy's, (he called Kyle that whenever he was feeling particularly kind), waist with one arm as he was walking by and then rested his chin on his shoulder. "You know as well as I do that you'll just be covered in sweat and get all dirty again as soon as you get out."

"No I won't." Kyle gently pushed his fiancé aside and walked into the bathroom. He grabbed a clean thin green hoodie and a pair of black sweatpants from under the sink and started up the shower. A moment later, he stripped out of his clothes and got into the shower. His hair was still a complete wreck, and he was glad that his hat had concealed it - it looked like the small 'fro he had as a kid.

He stood there with the water pushing his hair back down into place, staring blankly at the tiled wall in front of him. He should've known Clyde was going to blow it out of proportions, though he was really glad that he wasn't accused of having sex with Stan–wait, did he get accused of that? He wasn't entirely sure.

As he was reaching for his Axe shampoo, a hand came from what seemed like nowhere and gripped onto his wrist tightly. Kyle's eyes widened as the dark blue shower curtain was pushed back to show a completely naked Kenny standing there with an amused smile on his face. "Hey, move over, I need a shower before Cartman gets home."

Kyle let out a breath of relief and stepped aside for Kenny to get in with him once he grabbed his shampoo. "Where's Clyde?" He knew he was gone since he would've never allowed Kenny in the bathroom knowing Kyle was naked.

Kenny shrugged. "He went into town for something. His sunglasses were gone, so he probably went to the sex shop."

Kyle turned bright red. "Great…" Clyde took his sunglasses with him to the sex shop in an attempt to hide his face from the people in and around the area. It rarely worked, though Kyle and Kenny never told him that.

"I thought you guys agreed on no sex until your wedding night," Kenny said with a slight tone of question as he borrowed some of Kyle's shampoo.

"We did agree on that, but," Kyle sighed and rinsed his hair of the shampoo, "after that whole thing where I fell asleep at Stan's, he seems to really want sex. I don't understand why either."

"Did he give you a reason?"

He shrugged. "Not really. I think he thinks I slept with Stan."

"…Well, did you?" Kenny looked over at his friend with the question deep in his eyes.

Kyle met Kenny's eyes for a brief moment and then looked away, at the shower curtain. "Uh…well…maybe?"

His eyes widened at the words. He never would've thought that Kyle would actually cheat on Clyde! "Wait, you really had sex with Stan?"

"Well, what's it matter to you? You're cheating on Cartman with Butters," Kyle pointed out as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yes, but Cartman's an asshole. Clyde hasn't been anything but nice to you. Hell, he's willing to tell you he loves you in front of others, instead of being embarrassed to even look at you when someone's around. You're lucky to have him, Kyle."

"I know, but when I was with Stan…alone…it just…" His shoulders slumped. "I felt so happy. I couldn't control myself, and I trusted Stan to take control of the situation and stop it if it got out of hand. We both just…"

"Couldn't control yourselves?" Kenny sighed. "If you want to be with Clyde, you need to learn to control that urge around Stan."

"But that's it Kenny, Stan made me realize that I don't know what I want anymore. I don't know if I want to marry Clyde still."

"You need to tell him that then. You owe him that much if you're going to continue hanging around Stan."

"I…I know, but how could I tell him that I'm not sure that I love him anymore because I think I might love Stan?"

"Well, maybe not specify the reason why when you tell him," Kenny said with a shrug as he lathered up a rag with a bar of soap.

Kyle turned from Kenny with a light blush. It didn't matter how many times they showered together - mostly just to have an honest conversation that no one could overhear, though the first few times Kenny did it to see Kyle naked - he couldn't watch Kenny wash himself off, it was awkward. (Of course, that definition of awkward being: kind of hot and therefore making it hard to control urges.) "I don't intend to, but… Could you possibly help me?"

"How? You can look now." Kenny stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel from under the sink.

Kyle sighed. "I was hoping you knew how to help."

"Sorry, I don't." Kenny grabbed a pair of orange-red sweatpants from under the sink and slipped them on. "Besides, this isn't something I can really give you advice on."

"Why not?"

He chuckled dryly. "Look at my relationship. The way things are going, the only way I'm going to be free of this hell is if someone kills Cartman."

"Yeah…" Kyle suddenly got an idea. He turned the shower off and grabbed a towel to dry off with as he stepped out of the tub. "Kenny, I have an idea of how to take of Cartman!"

"What?" Kenny's eyes widened with anticipation.

Before Kyle could say anything, the bathroom door swung open to Cartman's bulbous ass in khakis and a white button up shirt. He saw Kenny shirtless and Kyle naked, though he was scrambling to get into his sweatpants, and assumed that something happening between them. Both of them having hair still dripping with water wasn't helping that assumption either. "What the fuck is going on here?"

"We were talking," Kenny said plainly.

"Bullshit! You two fucked, didn't you?"

"No," Kyle said quickly.

"Why would you even say that?" Kenny demanded as the usual anger that came to the surface around Cartman appeared. "He's my best friend, nothing more. I would never fuck him." He looked at Kyle. "No offense or anything."

"None taken," Kyle said as he began drying off his hair with the towel.

Kenny looked back at Cartman. "Anyway, fat ass, why are you back already? I thought you worked 'til seven tonight."

"I requested an earlier shift so that I could plan something," Cartman said smoothly. He turned and walked back into the living room.

Kenny's eyes narrowed and he followed his boyfriend out into the living room. "What're you planning?"

Kyle rested the towel around his shoulders so that the water dripping from his hair wouldn't get on the couch. He grabbed the thin hoodie and threw it over the arm of the couch as he plopped down. Just as he flipped the TV on to one of the four channels they got at the moment, Clyde walked back into the apartment with a little black bag.

"Is Cartman home?" Clyde asked in confirmation.

"Even though the silence is deceiving, yes, he's home," Kyle said in a joking tone. He looked back and saw the bag, his eyes widened slightly at the sight. "What's in the bag?"

Clyde smirked and reached into it, pulling out a large bright pink vibrator. "Just this."

Kyle turned the brightest shade of red possible. "W-Why'd you get that?"

"Well, we agreed not to have sex, but we never said anything about using toys."

"Whoa!" He jolted into a stand and completely faced his fiancé. "What the hell?"

"Come on, babe, let's go to the bedroom." Clyde grabbed Kyle's wrist tightly enough so he couldn't get away. His mouth twisted into a lust-filled smirk, and Kyle knew that there was no point in fighting, that it would only be more painful if he did. So he reluctantly followed his fiancé into their room.

A few minutes later, the apartment was filled with the muffled sound of Kyle's screams.

…

Two days later, on Monday, Kyle was limping to his seventh hour class with his math book in his arms. Ever since Clyde brought home that vibrator, he's been at his fiancé's mercy just about every three hours. Even Cartman and Kenny seemed to feel sorry for him seeing as they were kept up the entire night the night before because of his screaming.

Kyle stopped at one of the many large windows lining the math department and looked up at the sky. "Stan…help me," he muttered before scurrying to class as the warning bell sounded.


	7. Let me be With You

_**A/N:**__ I realize on the last chapter, I put "two days later," but I meant to put "a day later." Having Fridays off kinda screwed up the way my mind thinks about the weekends. (Hehe…)_

…

Stan looked around as he snuck out of the high school and walked towards the parking lot. He'd suddenly got a bad feeling in the middle of his sixth hour class and faked sick in order to sneak out. The feeling was pulling him in the direction of South Park, and something in his mind was saying it was because something was happening to Kyle.

He climbed in his Taurus and slowly pulled out of the parking lot. His parking space was the one nearest to the exit, so he was able to sneak out without alerting any of the security guards who patrolled the parking lot looking for people who were trying to skip.

Ten minutes after he pulled out of the high school parking lot, he pulled into the parking lot of the apartments. Without bothering to lock the doors of his car, he jogged inside and packed an overnight bag. He wasn't planning to stay for long, but just in case something happened that left him having to stay there, he wanted to be prepared. A few minutes later, he locked the door of the apartment and threw his bag in the backseat before he drove off. He'd left Christine a note saying where he went so that she freak out when he didn't come home.

…

An hour later, Stan pulled up to the front of South Park high as the transition between seventh and eighth hour was happening. He was about to step out of the car, but he saw Kyle limping next to Butters as they were walking outside towards the music department and just blew the car horn, capturing the attention of everyone walking outside. Kyle looked over and smiled as he saw Stan step out of the car and lean against the top of the cab.

Stan smiled as he saw Kyle say his goodbyes to Butters and limp over to the Taurus. "Hey there."

"What're you doing here?" Kyle asked like he was angry, though the wide smile on his face betrayed any anger that he could've possibly had.

"I had a feeling that you might want me here." Stan unlocked the doors. "Hop in."

"I've still got a class before I can go," Kyle said with slight hesitance. It was obvious he wanted to go with his friend instead.

"Oh, come on," Stan rolled his eyes, "don't you think I can see that you want to go…? Now, get in the car before I have to 'kidnap' you."

Kyle looked back to see if Butters was still standing there, and finding that he wasn't, he looked back at Stan and nodded. "Okay then." He opened the passenger's door and plopped down in the seat as Stan sat down in the driver's seat.

As soon as the doors closed, Stan gently grabbed Kyle's chin and turned his face to him. He connected their lips chastely for a minute and then looked deeply into Kyle's eyes. "Please don't make me go that long without your touch again."

"I won't." Kyle gripped onto the front of Stan's jacket and pulled him into him, connecting their lips again. "Because I don't want to go that long again either," he breathed when they separated again.

"Good." Stan put the car in drive and pulled out of the high school grounds. He turned in the direction of town. "Where do you wanna go?"

"Well, we could go to City Wok."

"That's still open?" His mouth slightly dropped open.

"Liu Kim's son took it over when he went back to China with his wife. It's actually a lot better now that his son's taken it over."

"Okay then." He drove a bit further and the pulled into the empty parking lot of City Wok. They hopped out of the car and bounded into the restaurant.

A young Chinese man was standing at the counter, smiling as they walked in. "Hello Kyle," he said in flawless English. "Why are you here? School let out early?"

"No." Kyle gestured to Stan. "He kidnapped me."

"I didn't kidnap him," Stan defended.

The man chuckled. "I don't really care, either way. So, what can I get you two?"

"City chicken," Stan said.

"And a city beef," Kyle said as he reached for his wallet.

"Okay then." The man rang them up. "Ten bucks."

Stan and Kyle each gave him five bucks and waited a minute for him to get their order. He told them to enjoy it, and then they went to a nearby table and sat down. "Could you get me back to the high school before Clyde notices?" Kyle asked as he took a bite of the city beef.

"Why?" Stan raised an eyebrow.

"…Well…ever since I got home yesterday Clyde's been really possessive. Actually, it's really bad…Stan, I'm getting scared," Kyle admitted softly.

Stan's eyes narrowed. "Why? What's going on?"

Kyle glanced over at Liu Kim's son and then looked back at his friend. "I'll tell you after we leave."

"…Okay…"

They both ate in silence for the next ten minutes. Once they were done, they both left hand-in-hand still in silence. Stan unlocked the car and opened up the door for Kyle before he sat down behind the wheel. As he started up the engine, he asked about what Kyle said in the restaurant again.

Kyle took a deep breath and stared blankly out of the window. "My ass hurts."

"Huh?" Stan was confused; he didn't understand what Kyle was getting at.

"The reason I'm limping today…the reason I'm becoming scared of Clyde…" Kyle looked at Stan sadly as he came to a stop before pulling out of the parking lot.

"What's going on, Kyle?"

"…Go to the apartment, I'll show you when we get there."

"How do I get there?"

"Turn right up here and then take the left into the parking lot. We're on the ground floor of the first building."

Stan followed the directions he was given and parked in the first guest space he saw. They climbed out of the car and walked towards the apartment, Kyle limping and Stan trying to make sure he wasn't going to fall over. Kyle opened the door and limped straight across the living room to him and Clyde's room with Stan following close behind.

The vibrator was on the top of one of the boxes that still wasn't unpacked; Kyle picked it up and showed it to Stan. "Clyde and I said that we wouldn't have sex again until we were married, but he said that we never said anything about toys. He's been…well…in a way, raping me with this thing."

Stan's eyes become wild with rage and he ground his teeth. "What the fuck? Why would he do that to you?"

Kyle shook his head and he threw the vibrator to the side, not caring where it landed. "I don't know…but there's nothing I can do stop it. When I tell him 'no,' it only seems to make him more horny. I barely got any sleep last night because of it."

"Kyle," Stan grabbed onto Kyle's hands, "come back to Denver with me."

"W-What?"

"I'm sure Christine wouldn't mind you staying with us, and you really need to get away from Clyde." He wrapped his arms around his friend's shoulders. "Just leave your ring on the table and pack some of your things. Come back with me…" He looked Kyle in the face. "**Be** with me."

Kyle's eyes went wide with shock. "Be with you? You want me…as your boyfriend?"

"Of course." Stan gave him a passionate kiss. "I love you."

"Stan…" Kyle threw his arms around Stan and gave him a kiss as passionate as the one he was given. "I love you too. I would love to go back with you, but I'm not going to just leave Clyde like that. I owe it to him to break up with him instead of just disappearing…plus I don't want to leave Kenny alone."

"…Okay… Please, though, don't delay too much longer." Stan connected their lips again. "I don't want to see you suffer."

"I'll do it soon." Kyle returned the kiss and tightened his arms around Stan's torso. He found himself being lifted into the air with Stan's arms tight around his waist.

Stan laid him down gently on the full-sized bed that Kyle and Clyde shared. They took off each others' clothes and slowly made love before Clyde, Kenny, and Cartman could make it home.


	8. Broken Pieces

When Clyde, Kenny, and Butters walked into the apartment, Kyle and Stan were sitting on the couch watching Family Guy. Oddly enough, Fox was one of the four channels the apartment got. As soon as the door opened, Kyle pulled his hand out of Stan's so that they wouldn't find out a thing.

Clyde was the first to walk in and see Stan and Kyle turn to look at everyone. "This is where you've been? Do you know how worried I was?"

Kyle chuckled innocently. "Sorry, he kind of surprised me."

"Hey Clyde," Stan greeted like nothing was wrong or awkward.

Kenny and Butters walked in closely behind Clyde. Kenny saw Stan and smiled widely, jumping over the back of the couch to give him a crushing hug. "Stan, you're back!"

"Hey there Stan," Butters said with a smile.

Stan had to push Kenny off of him so he could breathe. "Hey." He looked around, but didn't see the person he expected. "Where's Cartman?"

"He had to go to work for a little bit," Kenny said with a relieved tone, "so I decided to bring Butters over." He stepped over to his boyfriend and wrapped his arms around Butters' waist. "He's only been over here once after all."

Butters chuckled softly and wrapped an arm around Kenny's neck. "Well, it's because Eric doesn't like me…"

"I don't know why," Kenny nuzzled Butters' neck, "you're so adorable."

Butters turned light red and giggled. Clyde walked out of the kitchen with a full glass of Coke in his hand. He sat on the other side of Kyle and grabbed his hand. "What time is that band concert again?" He asked Butters.

"Five," Butters breathed out as Kenny reached for the button of his pants.

Stan looked at the clock. "We have a half-hour, so you two might not want to get it on."

"What took you guys so long to get here?" Kyle asked when Kenny released Butters.

"We were looking for you, babe," Clyde said a bit angrily. He took a quick drink of his Coke.

"Oops," Kyle chuckled, "sorry."

"It's actually my fault," Stan said without any regret in his voice whatsoever. He had enjoyed the time he spent with Kyle.

Clyde threw a quick glare at him. "Damn right it's your fault."

"Bastard," Stan mumbled.

"What did he say?"

"Well," Kyle said quickly, "why don't we get ready to go? I'm sure both of you have to be there early."

Kenny nodded. "Butters has to, but since I'm only doing the one thing, I can sit with you guys in the audience until then." He had agreed, against Cartman's wishes, to sing for the song Butters, Wendy, and Token had been assigned to play during the transition between the full band playing and only the stringed instruments.

"Okay, then we should probably go." Kyle stood up, pulling Clyde up with him.

"W-Wait, I have to change." Butters reached into the messenger's bag he used for a backpack and pulled out a black button up short sleeved shirt and a pair of black pants. He stepped into the bathroom for a minute and changed, stepping out changed and his hair combed back. He smelled like Kenny's cheap cologne.

Kenny smiled. "You look beautiful." He pecked Butters on the lips.

The four other guys waited as Kenny grabbed a pair of black skinny jeans to change into for when he had to go on stage. Once he had the pants in his hand, the five left to go back to the high school.

…

Ten minutes after Butters had left for the band hall, taking Kenny's pants with him, Cartman pulled up and walked over to them. He said hi to Stan like he had seen him at school earlier, he really didn't care. With a few minutes until the band began, the group went into the PAC and took some of the last empty seats near the back of the PAC.

When they were sitting, Clyde took hold onto Kyle's hand again, not realizing that when the lights went down near the back, Stan grabbed onto Kyle's left hand. He was fiddling with the engagement ring, getting close to flicking it off of his lover's finger. Cartman leaned back in the seat and crossed his arms over his chest angrily, and Kenny smiled slightly as the band walked onto the stage since he immediately found Butters.

Once the band was in place, the director - who, Stan realized with shock, was Mr. Garrison - signaled for everyone to get in the starting position. "Since when has Garrison been a band director?" Stan asked with a loud tone of confusion.

"Ever since he got fired from the elementary school after he got involved with NAMBLA shortly after you left," Kyle said with a chuckle. "I was honestly surprised they let him work at the high school."

"That is kinda surprising…"

"Shh," Kenny said, "it's starting."

The PAC was then filled the sound of the band playing songs from _"The Phantom of the Opera_,_" _then _"Beauty and the Beast_,_" _and then finally _"Bella's Lullaby_._" _Garrison then announced the song for the transition, while the stage was being rearranged for the string instruments to play alone. Kenny had already slipped out during _"Bella's Lullaby_,_" _though Cartman didn't notice while Stan, Kyle, and Clyde all did.

The curtain closed and the lights on the stage went off for a moment. There was some shuffling coming from the stage and then a single spotlight shone on Butters.

He plucked the first few notes and then gave way to Token softly tapping the drums. Spotlights then shone on Kenny, who had changed into a white tank top and his black skinny jeans, Wendy - also playing the cello - in a purple dress, Butters, and Token, in a black suit.

"_Too late – this is not the answer_

_I need to pack in_

_I can't pull your heart together with just my voice alone_

_One thousand shards of glass I came to meet you in_

_You cut the peace out of me"_

Cartman's eyes narrowed in anger when he saw Kenny. He specifically told him that he wasn't allowed to do this! What the fuck was he thinking?

"_And as you ripped it all apart,_

_That's when I turned to watch you_

_And as the light on you went dark_

_I saw you turn to shadow_

_If you would salvage some part of you that once new love_

_But I'm losing this"_

Kenny looked at Butters.

"_And I'm losing you"_

"What the hell?" Cartman yelled in anger.

"Shut up Cartman," Clyde, Kyle, and Stan muttered at the same time.

"_Oh I've gotta turn and run_

_From faces that you never see_

_Oh I've gotta save my blood_

_From all that you've broken_

_And pack up these pieces of me_

_It's too late now to stop the process_

_This was your choice – you let it in_

_This double life you lead is eating you up from within"_

Kyle looked at the engagement ring still on his left hand with guilt. Why was he doing this to Clyde? To Stan? To himself?

"_A thousand shards of glass you pushed beneath my skin"_

Kenny lifted his left arm into the air and showed a score of cuts going up and down his arm to the crowd. Stan, Kyle, and Clyde's eyes widened. What had happened to Kenny's arm?

"_And left me lying there to bleed_

_And as you showed me your scars_

_I only held you closer_

_But as the light in you went dark I saw you turn over_

_I wanted always to be there for you and close to you_

_But I'm losing this"_

He looked back at Butters again.

"_And I'm losing you_

_Oh I've gotta turn and run_

_From the faces that you never see_

_Oh I've gotta save my blood_

_From all that you've broken_

_And pack up these pieces–_

_Maybe without me_

_You'll return to all the beauty I once knew_

_But I can't stay to see how the sight of me brings that madness back to you…"_

Butters and Wendy played a quick soli beautifully.

"_Oh I've gotta turn and run_

_From faces that you never see_

_Oh I've gotta save my blood_

_From all that you've broken_

_And pack up these pieces of me"_

Wendy: "_(These broken pieces!)"_

"_And pack up these pieces of me"_

Wendy: "_(These broken pieces!)"_

"_Pack up these pieces of me…"_

Cartman was up and moving for the exit of the PAC as Butters was playing one final chord of the song and the crowd erupted into applause. Stan, Kyle, and Clyde followed him to make sure he wasn't to going to do anything stupid; they knew, though, seeing as it was Cartman, he would do something stupid, hence them following him. He was taking the outside route to the band hall, where Kenny would be after the performance.

He slammed the metal door of the band hall open and stopped in the doorway, giving the others some time to catch up and see what had stopped him in his tracks. Kenny had Butters pinned against one of the instrument lockers, their arms wrapped around each other, and they were making out.

Cartman's mouth dropped open, he was, for once, unable to say anything, unable to yell or scream about what was going on. He just couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Kyle and Stan exchanged a look and managed to grab onto Cartman's arms just as he came back to reality and began to scream, "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" He began struggling to get at Kenny and Butters when they looked over at him after hearing him scream.

"Oh shit," Kenny said as he kept his arms tight around Butters' shoulders and slowly stepped farther away from Cartman.

Clyde shoved his way past Cartman and quickly hustled Kenny and Butters out of the other door so that the enraged fat ass couldn't get them. Once they were out of sight, Stan raised one hand high and struck Cartman on the back of his neck, effectively knocking him unconscious.

Kyle and Stan both let Cartman drop to the ground. They looked at each other and realized that they both had the same question present in their eyes: What if Clyde caught them like Cartman caught Kenny and Butters?


	9. The Plan

Stan set his overnight bag down on the couch and sat down cross-legged next to it. Clyde and Cartman were already asleep, they both fell asleep a few hours prior, at ten that night, and Kenny was staying at Butters' until something was done about Cartman. Kyle was sitting with Stan on the couch, he looked over at the bag when he heard two pieces of what could've been hollow wood smack against each other.

"What was that noise?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Stan opened the bag and pulled a wakizashi and a katana out. "Just these."

"Holy shit!" Kyle's eyes went wide. "Why do you have those with you?"

Stan shrugged. "I never stay anywhere without them nearby. Besides, I had a feeling I might be needing them when I came here."

"What gave you that feeling?" Kyle asked curiously. He realized that he actually found it kind of cool that Stan was carrying those around, it made him look a little more badass.

Stan set the katana against the front of the couch and laid the wakizashi across his lap, and shrugged. "No idea, I just did. Anyway, from what you told me earlier, it's safe to say that I made a good call by bringing these with me."

"…Well, it's not Clyde that you'll need to kill," Kyle said softly.

"Why not? Kyle, you told me that he raped you with that damned thing. Give me a reason why I **shouldn't** kill him," Stan said harshly yet softly.

Kyle raised his left hand and showed Stan the ring. "Because until I give him this back, he's still my fiancé."

"When are you planning on giving him back the ring?"

Kyle looked at his hands, now in his lap and said slowly, "It's not that easy. Even though he's become a douche recently, he's been there for me ever since we first started dating. This…relationship between me and you is the only time I've ever had doubts about wanting to be with him."

"…Kyle…" Stan laid one of his hands gently on top of Kyle's. "I love you, you know that. I only want you to be happy, but I can tell that being around him is making you suffer so much." He stopped so that they could look in each others' eyes. "Please, if not for me, then for yourself, leave him soon."

Kyle chuckled. "That was cheesy."

Stan put his hands on his hips in a playfully angry way. "Well that wasn't nice, I put a lot of thought into those heart-warming words."

"I'm sorry," Kyle said as he tried to hold back a smile. "Could I make it up to you in any way?"

"Well…maybe…" Stan swooped in close to Kyle's face. "If I got a kiss from the most beautiful person in South Park."

"Then you must not be talking about me," Kyle muttered as a small blush crossed his face.

"You know I am," Stan whispered just before he touched his lips to Kyle's gently.

Kyle returned the kiss with all the passion he could find in himself. He gripped onto Stan's shoulders and pulled their bodies closer together; the only thing separating them was the overnight bag. A minute later, he released Stan and leaned his side against the back of the couch. He really needed to control himself with Clyde in the other room. Even though he was asleep, he could wake up at any minute to go to the bathroom and if Stan and Kyle were making out or something, they'd be busted and everything would just…fall apart.

"Soon, okay?" Stan smiled as he dug around in his bag for a pair of night pants.

Kyle sighed but nodded. "Okay."

"So, who were you guys planning on having me kill?"

"Cartman," he said monotone.

Stan smirked and set aside the wakizashi as he jumped up, stripping off his clothes. "I should've figured that. After what I saw with Kenny and Butters, I can see why Cartman needs to die."

"Why are you half-naked?" Kyle asked with a raised eyebrow. He didn't mind it, hell, he loved looking at Stan's well-toned "jock body," but he wasn't entirely sure where this was going.

"I'm changing," Stan laughed as he slipped into a pair of Call of Duty night pants.

"Oh." Kyle felt silly for asking, but he couldn't honestly say he wasn't a little disappointed.

"You're too cute." Stan leaned down, resting one hand on the back of Kyle's head, and gave him a passionate kiss.

Kyle rested his hands on Stan's chest when he gently pushed him onto his back. Stan straddled Kyle's waist and snaked his tongue into the redhead's mouth. He didn't fight it, though he knew in the back of his mind that they were treading on dangerous waters with Clyde in the bedroom.

Their moaning brought Kyle back to reality, and he pushed Stan away from him, though all he was doing then was hovering over him. "What?" Stan asked, his eyes glazed over with lust.

"Stan, Clyde's in the other room, we just can't…" Even though he was saying that, it was obvious in his eyes that he wanted Stan right then and there. But he was right, they couldn't do anything with Clyde in the other room.

Stan sighed and sat back on his overnight bag, not caring that he was squishing it. "It'd be easier to resist if you weren't so goddamned adorable," he sighed.

Kyle chuckled. "Well, that's not my fault."

"Yeah it is," Stan teased.

"Fine then." Kyle crossed his arms over his chest and stood up off the couch to go into him and Clyde's room. "You can just be mean." His tone suggested that he was teasing Stan in return, but he really was tired.

"Aw…" Stan grabbed onto Kyle's waist as he was walking past him. "Stay out here with me. Sleep with me on the couch."

"Sorry Stan," Kyle said reluctantly, "but I have to go to bed with Clyde…as much as I don't want to."

"Then don't."

He chuckled again and pealed Stan's arms off of his waist. "If you'll just be patient, you'll have me in your arms forever."

Stan smiled widely and moved the overnight bag to rest next to his katana and wakizashi on the floor. "I think I can wait a little longer then, if it means to be with you forever."

Kyle smiled softly and then walked into him and Clyde's room. Once he was in the room, Stan grabbed the pillow and blanket from the other side of the couch that was set out for him, and went to sleep.

…

Bacon. That's all Stan could smell as he woke up the next morning. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the clock, it was ten thirty in the morning. Didn't Clyde, Kyle, and Cartman have school today? Who was there then?

He sat up and saw Clyde sitting at the table smoking what was left of his cigarette, an empty plate in front of him, and Kyle at the stove in a frilly pink apron cooking. (Stan couldn't help but wonder if Kyle wore the apron to be cute or for shock value.) He scratched the back of his head and stretched as he stood up and walked over to the table to sit with Clyde. "I thought you guys had school today."

Clyde shrugged. "We did, but neither of us really wanted to sit yet another immature performance from someone the principal hired to 'entertain' us."

"Then where's Cartman?"

"He wanted to talk to Kenny about what he saw yesterday." Clyde shrugged again. "Like we were going to stop him…?"

"Aren't you guys worried that he might try to kill Butters and Kenny?"

"A little bit," Kyle admitted, "but surely Cartman's not stupid enough to try anything in the high school. And we're going to meet Kenny and Butters after school lets out so we can hang out, we're making sure nothing's going to happen."

Stan nodded. "Alright." He smiled as Kyle set a plate with bacon, toast, and homemade pancakes down in front of him. "This looks great!"

Kyle smiled and grabbed a plate for himself, sitting down between Stan and Clyde. "Thanks. I was afraid I'd have to say that it tastes better than it looks."

Stan chuckled and took a bite. "Well, it definitely **does** taste great!" He looked at Clyde seriously. "You're lucky to have him, you know…?"

Clyde smirked and said, "I know. I'm luckiest person on Earth, wouldn't you agree Stan?"

Stan kept his face straight. "I would."

Before the conversation could erupt into an argument, Kyle quickly said, "Well, Stan, what I was telling you last night about killing Cartman. Could you possibly do that soon?"

A look of surprise crossed Stan's face; he didn't remember that. Though he did remember Kyle saying something about Clyde not being the one he needed to use his katana and wakizashi on. He nodded. "Yeah, I could. Any specific styles you guys prefer? Execution? Torture?"

"Execution style," Clyde said as he snuffed out his cigarette. "Cartman deserves no mercy."

"Then why not torture?" Kyle questioned.

"Well, even though he deserves no mercy, we need him dead quickly. Execution style is the best way to assure that. Scare him and then shoot him in the head."

Stan nodded. "I agree with that." He quickly finished the meal, finding every taste was amazing regardless of him swallowing it mostly whole. "I don't have any handguns with me though, just the swords. I'll have to go 'borrow' a berretta from my Uncle Jimbo."

"A berretta?" Clyde's eyes widened in surprise. "You already know what kind of handgun you want to use?"

"Yeah. It was my uncle's choice weapon hunting small animals when I was a kid, so I know it's a good one."

"You're not hunting a small animal though," Kyle said with an amused smile. "You're killing something the size of a freakin' moose."

Clyde and Stan laughed, knowing that Kyle was telling the truth. Cartman was big enough to be considered anything **but **a small animal. Regardless, Stan was still going to use the berretta on Cartman.

Once they had finished laughing, he stood up and left to go 'borrow' the handgun from his uncle. Along the way, he couldn't help but wonder if it was a smart idea to leave Kyle alone with Clyde.


	10. Innocent Child

Kyle took his apron off and draped it over the back of the chair he'd been sitting in before he grabbed the three dirty plates and placed them in the sink. He'd wash them when he was done taking a shower. He walked into grabbed a white t-shirt and blue jeans out of his closet before going into the bathroom and starting up the shower. Clyde had been on the couch reading something, Kyle wasn't sure what, so he wasn't too worried about him.

He hopped in the shower and completely submerged his head in the running water, deafening all the sounds around him. He just wanted to stand there and have a moment to himself to think about what had happened over the past few days. He wanted to go back to Denver with Stan so badly, but he knew that he couldn't just leave Clyde without an explanation. But there was no way to let him down easily…maybe he could just leave the ring on the table…

Suddenly, Kyle found himself pinned against the shower wall and someone's naked body pressing against the back of his body. He struggled, trying desperately to get away from whoever was pressing him against the wall. "Stop struggling," Clyde's voice breathed harshly into his ear.

Kyle stiffened. What was Clyde thinking? "W-What're you doing?" His voice was shaking, and with good reason, he was absolutely terrified.

"Just shut up," Clyde bit down hard on his fiancé's shoulder, "and try not to scream so loud. The neighbors hate it when you do."

Kyle didn't listen though, as soon as Clyde entered him, he screamed and again struggled to get away. Clyde covered his mouth, but Kyle bit down. In response, Clyde grabbed the back of his head and bashed it into the shower wall. He thrust into him harder, earning another scream; he clapped his hand over Kyle's mouth again, but found that this time he didn't get bit since Kyle knew what would happen if he did.

Minutes later, Clyde finished stepped out of the shower. "Clean yourself up," he said plainly.

Kyle sank to his knees when the bathroom door closed. He was shaking severely and tears were running down his face in a torrent. His nose was gushing with blood from when his face had gotten bashed into the shower wall. He hurt all over, and not just physically. He felt utterly betrayed, and his heart was breaking in a million places. This was worse than the vibrator, at least when Kyle had screamed then, Clyde would stop shortly after he began. This…it made Clyde the ultimate traitor, it was worse than Kyle sleeping with Stan.

"S-S-Stan…I need you r-right now," Kyle sobbed out.

…

Stan put the berretta, wrapped in a white hand towel he'd taken from his uncle's bathroom, in the passenger's seat of his Taurus. Luckily, Jimbo had been drunk off his ass with his war buddy Ned and didn't even notice Stan going in and out of the house.

He pulled out of the driveway and sped back to the apartment. He just had a feeling something horrible had happened, though he wasn't entirely sure what. As he eased to a stop at a stop sign not far from his uncle's house, his cell phone sounded off with Nickelback's _"If Everyone Cared_._" _Stan answered the phone without seeing the number.

"Who's this?" He asked simply.

"_Kenny,"_ he was panting and there was the sound of sneakers hitting pavement in the background. _"Could you get to Stark's Pond, __**now**__?"_

"Uh…sure…? What's going on?"

"_I found a note in Butters' house in Cartman's handwriting saying I'd meet Butters at Stark's Pond. I have a feeling Cartman's planned something, and I don't want to imagine what."_

Stan nodded and pulled away from the stop sign. "Okay, I'll meet you there. Call Kyle too. I would but I'm driving. I really even shouldn't be talking now," he muttered.

"_I tried but he didn't answer. I'll try again, but I can't guarantee anything."_

"Alright then. I'll be there–"

"_BUTTERS!" _The call was dropped suddenly and Stan sped up. Whatever was going on today with, (maybe), Kyle and now with Butters was going to define what happened from here, on. Stan just knew it.

A minute later, he skidded to a stop in front of Stark's Pond. When he stepped out of the car, he saw a bunch of goth kids gathered in a group around someone screaming bloody murder. Another four goth kids were restraining Kenny as he struggled with tears streaming down his face to get at whoever in the group was screaming.

Stan grabbed his black trench coat from the backseat and slipped into it. He slammed his car doors shut and buttoned his trench coat as he ran over to the group of goth kids. Once he was close enough, he slowed to a heavy, careless walk that he knew belonged to Raven. He might not have been Raven right then, but he did know how he walked and acted.

He grabbed his hat off of his head and stuffed it in his pocket. "Hey," he said monotone, capturing the attention of the goths.

"Who're you?" One of them demanded.

"Raven."

"Well then, Raven, why don't you join us?"

"Sounds good to me." Stan stalked into the group, ignoring the confused and betrayed look on Kenny's face as best as he could. He stopped though when he saw what was going on.

Butters was in the center of the group, severely bleeding. His shirt was completely torn open in the back and there were cuts from a bullwhip all across his back, neck, and legs. Tears were running down Butters' face like an endless river. There was a goth girl holding a bullwhip loosely in her hand behind him, and two more girls were holding Butters down by his arms.

Stan's mouth dropped slightly open and his eyes went wide as dinner plates. He looked at the girl as her grip tightened on the wooden hilt of the bullwhip and she drew it back into the air. He ran over and blocked the whip with his arms as it came down, cutting through the trench coat and his jacket, then cutting deep into the skin of his arms.

"Raven, what're you doing?" The goth kid from earlier demanded.

Stan grabbed the whip and yanked it from the girl's hand. "Get the fuck out of here," he said threateningly.

"Why should we?"

"You're harming an innocent child! You're lucky I don't fucking kill you all!"

"Oh yeah?" He scoffed. "With what?"

Stan drew his wakizashi out of an inner pocket of his trench coat, ignoring the searing pain that shot through his arm when he reached for it, and pointed it at the goth boy who addressed him. "With this."

The boy backed up a few steps with his hands held up in front of his body in immediate surrender. "Fine, we'll go." He nodded at everyone around. "Let's go. We did what we were paid to do."

The four who had been restraining Kenny allowed him to drop to the ground and left with the group. Kenny demanded to know who paid them, though he already knew, he just wanted to hear it from the people who had actually had contact with Cartman. They just kept walking without answering.

When they were out of sight, Kenny took a few weak steps towards Butters and dropped onto his knees next to his injured boyfriend. He gathered Butters into his arms and began crying as Butters cried into Kenny's shirt and began yelling something that was too muffled for Stan to hear.

Stan looked at the injuries on his arms after he threw the bullwhip into the pond. They hurt like hell and he only had the one injury. He couldn't imagine the pain Butters was in.

His phone went off in the pocket of his jeans again. He unbuttoned his trench coat and grabbed his cell phone from his pocket. He saw that it was Kyle calling and answered quickly. "Hey there. Kenny said you–" He abruptly stopped and a look of sheer anger took hold of his face. "CLYDE **WHAT**?"


	11. The Assassin

_**A/N: **__I would like to thank Darkslayer18 for all the inspiration for this chapter. I would also like to thank my awesome, faithful reviewers! ^.^ Y'all are amazing!_

…

Stan slammed the door of the apartment open, nearly breaking it off of the hinges, a look of rage was etched into his face. "Clyde, you motherfucker! Where are you?"

Kyle looked up from where he was lying on the couch. His eyes were bloodshot from crying, the pillow he was hugging was soaked with the tears he'd shed. He sniffed and let another sob past his lips. "S-Stan?"

"Kyle!" Stan bounded over to him and gathered him into his arms, letting Kyle grip onto his t-shirt and lean into him.

Kyle tried to stop crying now that his lover was with him, and even more when he saw the bandaged wounds from the bullwhip. "W-What happened to your arms?"

Stan glanced at his arms; he and Kenny had taken Butters to Hell's Pass hospital so that he could get treated for his injuries, the police were on the way when Stan left. He looked at Kyle and shook his head. "That's not important right now. Where's Clyde?"

"He left a while back to go get Cartman." Kyle sniffed and wiped his eyes. "He said to tell you that he's going to lure him into the alley behind the elementary school at sunset. You're to kill Cartman then."

"…Cartman's corpse won't be the only one back there," Stan growled out. "I'll torture him for you…he'll pay for every way he's **ever** hurt you!"

Kyle wrapped his arms around Stan's torso and buried his face into his chest. "Please do." He felt more tears start running down his face. "I don't want to see Clyde's face ever again."

"You won't," Stan tightened his arms around Kyle's shoulders and buried his face in his red hair, "I promise."

"Stan…I love you."

"And I love you."

…

Stan finished applying his eyeliner and walked out of the bathroom wearing a plain black t-shirt and a pair of Kenny's black skinny jeans. His hair was unkempt and his eyes screamed of the rampage that was about to happen. He grabbed his katana and wakizashi and strapped them to his back, then put his trench coat on over them. He grabbed a pair of black gloves and slipped them on as Kyle walked over to him.

"You're sure you won't get caught?" He asked again just to make sure. Kyle was extremely worried that Stan would get caught after killing Clyde and Cartman. The last thing he wanted was for Stan to be executed for killing someone who deserved it.

"I've done this before, don't worry," Stan said monotone. "I'll drop you off at the hospital and then I'll go take care of them both."

Kyle smiled softly. "Okay," he leaned into Stan's chest and shut his eyes as he felt two arms wrap around his torso, "just be careful."

"You know I will." Stan rested his hand under Kyle's chin and kissed him ever so softly. "Now, let's go to the hospital."

Kyle nodded and followed Stan out to the Taurus. Before he sat down, Stan grabbed the berretta, still wrapped in the white towel, and shoved it in the pocket of his trench coat. They were speeding off towards the hospital shortly after.

Stan came to a stop in front of Hell's Pass hospital a few minutes later, giving Kyle a kiss and hug before the redhead walked inside to visit Butters. He drove off towards South Park elementary to intercept Clyde and Cartman. The sun was low in the sky, so it was nearly time to see them dead.

He parked the car a few blocks away and walked to the elementary school. He climbed up a fire ladder and watched the alley from the roof, waiting nearly impatiently for them to arrive.

"There's a shortcut over here," Clyde voice resonated through the alleyway.

Stan pulled his Ipod headphones out of his pocket and clicked the "play" button on the Ipod itself when their shadows came into sight. Immediately, Disturbed's _"The Game"_ began screaming in his ears. He jumped down from the roof, landing tenderly on his feet in a crouch. He straightened to a stand and stared directly at Cartman with no emotion showing in his face whatsoever.

"What the hell? Stan?" Cartman was confused; he couldn't have imagined why Stan just jumped off of the elementary school's roof.

Clyde saw Stan standing there and then kicked the back of Cartman's knees, sending him to the ground. "My part's done."

Stan stalked up to where Cartman was sitting on his knees, which now hurt since he hit the concrete hard. He pulled the berretta out of the towel and his pocket and pressed the end of the barrel against Cartman's forehead.

Cartman's eyes went wide when the gun touched his skin. "What the fuck? Stan, what're you–" His words were cut short as a loud _bang_ that tore a hole straight through his head. The shell of the bullet landed next to where Cartman's body fell on its side.

"Whoa," Clyde muttered as Stan threw the berretta into a pile of trash, "that was quick…"

"Yeah," Stan reached back and drew both the katana and the wakizashi, "but this won't be."

"What the…? Stan, what're you doing?" Clyde backed away a step, slowly becoming terrified of his old friend.

Stan took step after heavy step towards Clyde, the thrill of the hunt settling upon him. He raised his arms out to his sides and bent over slightly as he ran at the brunette.

Seeing what was coming, Clyde turned and tried to run back down the alley. He didn't get far before Stan jumped at him and cut his feet off from the ankle, sending him tumbling to the ground. Clyde smashed his chin off of the pavement; a shockwave of pain rattled through his head when he hit the ground.

He pushed himself up with shaking arms; he could feel the blood running off of his chin and inside of his mouth from where he bit down on his tongue. When Clyde was as far up as he could go, Stan crouched down and crossed his blades, trapping Clyde's neck in a scissor with his katana and wakizashi.

"Why are you doing this?" Clyde asked through the pain.

Stan's eyes narrowed in anger. "Why did you rape Kyle?"

A temporary look of surprise crossed Clyde's face, but then he just smirked. Of course Kyle would tell Stan. "That slut had to remember who he belongs to."

"'Belongs?'" Stan moved the blades just slightly, cutting into the skin on Clyde's throat. "Kyle isn't a possession, or something you own! He's a smart, funny, beautiful person! Someone you **don't** **deserve**!"

Clyde chuckled, causing the blades to cut deeper into his throat. "Do you think he'll be any better to you than to me? He fucked you in **our** bed! The moment someone else comes along who gives him even a single thought of doubt, he'll jump into bed with him!"

"How do you know about that?" Stan asked with ground teeth.

"I have a camera set up in our bedroom. When I was looking through it, I found the footage of you two fucking. If I didn't rape him, he wouldn't remember who it was he promised his life to, the only person he should be sleeping with!"

Stan shook his head in disgust. "You stupid fuck." Without allowing Clyde to say another word, he snapped the blades together, successfully decapitating Clyde.

When Clyde's body dropped to the ground, Stan sheathed his katana and wakizashi. Without glancing back at either Cartman and Clyde's bodies, he walked through the puddles of blood. He looked around for anyone who could've been around the area when the killings happened; finding no one, he slipped his boots off so that they would leave no footprints for the cops to later follow and walked back to his Taurus.

He would never tell Kyle how Clyde was killed, but he figured that he wouldn't want to know anyway.


	12. Epilogue: Here in my Arms

The bodies of Cartman and Clyde were found a few days later, as Kyle and Stan were visiting Butters in the hospital. Everything had been cleared up with Butters about who had tricked him into meeting the goth kids, causing him to nearly be whipped to death.

Thanks to Stan being careful after he killed Cartman and Clyde, he wasn't at all suspected of killing them. Instead, Jimbo was found guilty of killing them when the berretta, covered in his fingerprints, was discovered, though the police couldn't find the blades that cut up Clyde. Kenny, Butters - in a wheelchair - Kyle, and Stan attended the funerals, and even put on sad faces to continue to keep out of the suspect list.

It had been nearly a month since then, and Stan had moved in with Kyle, Kenny, and Butters in the apartment that Kyle and Kenny had originally rented out with Cartman and Clyde. Christine was okay with it, she had even helped him move to South Park. She visited him every other weekend, and always reminded him that he was still going to spend Christmas with her so that she wouldn't be alone then.

Stan transferred to South Park high school, leaving behind his old high school without any regret. He didn't like a lot of the people he went to school with in Denver anyway. He was immediately accepted onto the varsity football team, shoving the former quarterback to the sidelines to only stand in for him if he was sick.

Kyle had taken off the engagement ring Clyde had given him shortly after the funeral and hadn't even looked at it since. He thinks it was put in a box of things that went back to Clyde's parents, but he wasn't sure.

All in all, their relationship had developed amazingly. There was no doubt in either of their minds that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. Some nights they stayed up until all hours planning out their lives after graduation. College, marriage, successful careers, and adopting a young brother and sister.

Part of that plan was already in motion: Stan and Kyle had both been accepted to Indiana University, Stan going on a football scholarship, Kyle going because, well, he was valedictorian of his graduating class. He could get in anywhere he wanted.

Stan and Kyle walked back into the apartment laughing, each with an arm wrapped around the other. Stan had led the South Park Cows to victory in one of their final state matches, only one more win and they'd be heading to nationals. They looked around as they entered the apartment, not finding Kenny and Butters. They had left during halftime and haven't called or texted either Stan or Kyle, but they weren't too concerned. The only person who would've harmed them was dead and buried six feet in the ground.

They both sat down on the couch, Kyle moved so that his legs were rested across his boyfriend's lap and he wrapped his arms around his neck, holding himself close to Stan. "Just one more game, Stan!" He chuckled. "Can you believe it? We'll actually go to nationals this year!"

Stan wrapped his arms around Kyle's waist. "I can believe that. What I can't believe," he looked into Kyle's eyes, "is how lucky I am."

"After all this time, you still can't believe it?"

"No. I've never had this kind of luck before. I just don't want to find out this is a dream I'll have to wake up from."

"Stan," Kyle kissed Stan chastely, "I'll make sure you never wake up."

"Kyle… I love you so much," Stan breathed as he returned the kiss.

"I love you too." Kyle intensified the kiss and leaned closer into him. Stan moved one of his arms so that he could entwine his fingers with his boyfriend's.

He realized then that this was all he needed for the rest of his life. So what if college didn't work out for him, or his career didn't take off, or that they never adopted any children. As long as Kyle was here in his arms, Stan couldn't care less where his life would take him.

**End**

…

**_A/N:_**_ I hope y'all enjoyed it! ^.^ I'm planning a sister story to this for Kenny and Butters called _Alone With Forever_, so be watching for that. Well, bye for now._


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